Thank you for your e-mail. I am a 76 year old active male. This morning I had a heart cath in Montgomery AL at the Baptist Hospital. I went in to the procedure with indication from an echo cardiogram that I had an Aortic Valve Area (AVA) of 1 cm. The heart cath, however, indicated that I had an AVA of 1.5 cm, This AVA is down from 1.7 cm measured in an a heart cath 3-4 years ago. Today they found my heart arteries all clear and healthy and the Mitro valve is in good shape.

My question are:
1. At what AVA value should I consider an aortic valve replacement?
2. Is there a way to remove the calcium safely from the aortic valve?
3. If there is a way to remove calcium from the valves, when should I consider such an procedure?

Hi, Bob. Unfortunately, we cannot diagnose conditions, provide second opinions or make specific treatment recommendations through this correspondence. If you would like to seek help from Mayo Clinic, please call one of our appointment offices in Arizona: 480-301-1735, Florida: 904-953-0853, or Minnesota: 507-284-2511.

Hi! My grandson is now 5 and was diagnosed with bicuspid aortic valve before birth. I feel badly he can play no sports but archery, golf. Anyone have experience with a similar situation and will this ever change?

I am not sure what the recommendations regarding activitiy and sports are are for kids with biscuspid aortic valves. I know that some conditions may call for restrictions. A good place for you to find others in a similar situation is at this website: http://conqueringchd.org/ for The Pediatric Congenital Heart Association. The best other thing you can do is to make sure that your grandson is seeing an expert in congenital heart issues. Mayo Clinic has great cardiologists and cardiac surgeons. In fact, I had surgery at Mayo almost ten years ago for another hereditary heart problem, and my surgeon there is one of their top pediatric heart surgeons. He was and is amazing. Wishing your grandson the best.